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Collection: War Production Board Home Front Propaganda Leaflets (1942)

JF Ptak Science Books

Pamphlets and Leaflets Issued by the War Production Board Headquarters, War Production Board, U.S. Government Printing Office. 11 pieces, $200

• He Was a Good Guy When He Had It. 8x3", unfolds for a central message, which was to make sure that the guy ("Joe") had "it", being bullets and grenades.  16-27955-1 (Received May 3, 1944)
• After This War--What?   1942.  9x6", 4pp. (Received May, 1944)
• Building the Ships to Deliver the Goods. 1942. 8x5", single sheet. 
• Building the Tanks to Smash the Axis. 8x5".(undated, though received by the L.C. May 1944), single sheet. 4pp. 1942
• Making the Guns to Smash the Axis. 8x5",  4pp. 1942. 
• Machines and Men, Working for Victory. 4pp. 1942
• Men Working Together. 8x3". Single sheet. 
• Get Straight on this War. 8x3". Single sheet. Undated by stamped "received" by the L.C. in May 1944.
• Germany's War Production Drive is Different. 8x3". Single sheet, folded. Undated by stamped "received" by the L.C. in May 1944
• Total War. 8x3". Single sheet. Undated by stamped "received" by the L.C. in May 1944
• No Book for Free Men. 8x3". Single sheet. Undated by stamped "received" by the L.C. in May 1944

Collection: Office of War Information Home Front Education and Propaganda, 1944

JF Ptak Science Books   

Office of War Information leaflets, dated mostly September-November, 1944. Most are 13x8", though some are 11x8"--those that are larger tend to have been printed on better stock and are in very good conidtion; the smaller versions were printed on poor stock and are now browned and brittle.  57 items:  $750

Includes this interesting effort:

Hitler's Lies. A short, documented list of the more conspicuous lies of Adolf Hitler, from 1935 to 1942, in chronological order. Dated  December 14, 1942.  Published by the Office of War Information, (1942/3) 11pp.  Printed on inexpensive paper which is now brown and brittle. Provenance: Library of Congress, with a stamped transfer date of December 30, 1943.  There seem to be no copies of this edition located in the WorldCat/OCLC; there is one other very similar version of this (in four pages, double columns) at the Denver Public Library.  

(The following quotes come from a review by Martin Melosi of Allan M. Winkler,  The Politics of Propaganda: The Office of War Information, 1942-1945 , published by Yale in 1978):

• The Office of War Information (OWI, created in 1942)  was "dominated by liberal interventionists, such as Archibald MacLeish and Robert Sherwood, the OWI sought to play an activist role in winning the war by affirming the value of democracy over any totalitarian threat". "The leadership of OWI were sure that if they could simply repeat it loudly enough and often enough, it would win the hearts and minds of all who heard  (p. 150)."  "But alas, the grandiose dreams and high expectations of the major OWI figures were dashed by several forces, including a hesitant, almost indifferent president; a suspicious Congress and State Department with little faith in the plans of OWI; a variety of internal squabbles over attempts to define what American policy was and how best to present it; and, most significantly, the more pragmatic requirements of war."

• And so "the home front was short-lived; how Congress dismantled the domestic branch which had tried to the American people about the war effort" and the OWI shifted its interests and direction to the theaters of war, "intense efforts to support the military effort via psychological warfare against the enemy...The propaganda of war had finally come to represent the war being fought."
• 

The other elements of this small collection include:  

Calls Aachen Worthy Monument to Hitler's Destructive Genius. Otober 31, 1944.  2pp

Hitler, with Current Degrees, Ruthlessly Destroying Germany, by Walter Millis. October 24, 1944. 2pp.

Hitler Discusses Problem of Reducing German Industry, by Edgar A, Mowrer. October 14, 1944. 11x8, 1pp

Situation Now Hopeless for Germany; Only Way Out is Complete Surrender, by Walter Millis, September 5, 1944. 1pp

Hitler's Strategy Continues to Lead to Utter Destruction, by Walter Millis. Sept 30, 1944.  11x8, 2pp. 

Japanese Fleet Does Not Know Where or How U.S. Fleet Will Strike Next, by Wallace Herrick. October 21, 1944, 13x8", 1pp. 

Sooner Surrender Comes, the More Will be Saved, by Wallace Horrick.[sic] October 14, 1944. 13x8", 1pp. 

Battle on the Western Front is in Second Vital Stage, October 7, 1944. 11x8", 2pp. 

Prolonging of War Means Further Suffering for Millions in Europe, by Walter Millis, Novermber 11, 1944, 2pp. 

Guerilla [sic] Warfare Appears Only Answer to Nazi Political Leaders. October 10, 1944. 11x8, 2pp. 

Dumbarton Oaks Proposals an Adventure in Social Organization and Invention, by Walter Millis.  October 17, 1944.  11x8, 2pp

Senator Comments on Three Aspects of Proposed World Security Organization. September 23, 1944. 1pp.

Background on Tokyo. November 4, 1944. 3pp..

Economic Plans for Germany After the War, by Maz Lerner, October 13, 1944

General Arnold Sees "Beginning of End" for Enemy in Air. January 4, 1944. 13x8", 3pp.

Dewey's Reply to President's Foreign Policy Speech. October 28, 1944. 13x8" 4pp. 

Island Landings Face Different Circumstances, Experts Say. January 15, 1944. 13x8", 1pp. 

Nazis Face Bitter New Year, by Walter Millis. 11x8, January 4, 1944. 

Roosevelt Reports on Lend-Lease, January 9, 1944. 11x8", 1pp. 

U.S. Agricultural News, January 6, 1944, 13x8", 2pp.  

Latest Agricultural Trends in United States Outlined. October 31, 1944. 11x8".

Great Future Significance to Events of Recent Days. September 2, 1944. 13x8". 1pp. Weekly Information Backgrounder. October 14, 1944. 13x8". 2pp. 

Why United Nations Seek to Prevent Future Wars. November 4, 1944. 13x8", 3pp. 

Correspondent Goes Behind Scenes in Recall of General Joe Stilwell. November 4, 1944. 13x8", 3pp.  

President Roosevelt on U.S. Foreign Policy. October 24, 1944. 13x8, 5pp. 

Dewey Speech on U.S. Foreign Policy. October 21, 1944. 13x8", 4pp.

Sea Bees Build Reputation in Combat Construction. January 8, 1944. 13x8", 1pp.

U.S. Faces Difficult Agricultural Problems. November 11, 1944. 11x8, 2pp.

Aggressors Aroused Power That Will Destroy Them. January 11, 1944.  11x8", 1pp. 

Background on Japanese Mandated Islands. February 8, 1944. 13x8, 3pp. 

Roosevelt Faces Vote Test in Unique Wartime Election, by George Warnecke, January 15, 1944.. 13x8, 2pp. 

Outstanding Pronouncements by Roosevelt on International and Domestic Questions. November 8, 1944, 11x8, 2pp.

Men Face Primitive Conditions in Southwest Pacific War, by Raymond Clapper. .January 29, 1944. 13x8" 1pp.

Pacific War Nearer Japan, Keeping Axis Separated. January 25, 1944. 11x8". 2pp. 

Writer Sees Improved Cooperation in Campaign against Japan. January 22, 1944. 11x8. 1pp. 

Cartels Endanger Economic Freedom. February 19, 1944. 13x8", 1pp.

Roosevelt and Dewey Views on Post-War World Security. October 16, 1944. 11x8, 1pp.  

American Presidential Election Procedure, February 22, 1944. 13x8, 2pp.

People Lead on Postwar Setup. February 1, 1944. 13x8, 2pp. 

Background on Marcus Island, February 8, 1944, 11x8", 1pp. 

U.S. Agricultural Newsletter, February 6, 1944. 13x8, 2pp. 

Noted American Columnist Killed in Crash Covering Marshalls Invasion (Raymond Clapper). February 8, 1944. 13x8, 2pp. 

Wallace Sees Improvements for Postwar America, February 8, 1944, 13x8, 2pp.

Background on Burma. 13x8", February 1, 1944.

Background on Midway and Wake Islands. February 8, 1944. 13x8, 2pp. 

What American Papers Say.  September 16, 1944. 13x8", 1pp. 

What  American Papers Say. October 21, 1944., 13x8", 3pp. 

What  American Papers Say. January 1, 1944., 13x8", 1pp. 

What  American Papers Say. October 28, 1944., 13x8", 1pp. 

What  American Papers Say. January 29, 1944., 13x8", 1pp. 

What  American Papers Say. January 3, 1944., 13x8", 1pp. 

What American Papers SAy, November 11, 1944. 13x8, 2pp. 

Weekly Information Backgrounder. (undated, election-time, 1944) Vandenberg, Dewey, MacArthur, world security league, Quebec conference.  13x8". 4pp. 

Weekly Information Backgrounder, October 24, 1944. 13x8", 3pp.

Weekly Information Backgrounder, October 24, 1944. 13x8", 3pp.

Weekly Information Backgrounder, October 3, 1944. 13x8", 3pp.

 

 

 

 

 

Hitler's Lies. A short, documented list of the more conspicuous lies of Adolf Hitler, from 1935 to 1942, in chronological order. Dated  December 14, 1942.  Published by the Office of War Information, (1942/3) 11pp.  Printed on inexpensive paper which is now brown and brittle. Provenance: Library of Congress, with a stamped transfer date of December 30, 1943.  There seem to be no copies of this edition located in the WorldCat/OCLC; there is one other very similar version of this (in four pages, double columns) at the Denver Public Library.  

(The following quotes come from a review by Martin Melosi of Allan M. Winkler,  The Politics of Propaganda: The Office of War Information, 1942-1945 , published by Yale in 1978):

• The Office of War Information (OWI, created in 1942)  was "dominated by liberal interventionists, such as Archibald MacLeish and Robert Sherwood, the OWI sought to play an activist role in winning the war by affirming the value of democracy over any totalitarian threat". "The leadership of OWI were sure that if they could simply repeat it loudly enough and often enough, it would win the hearts and minds of all who heard  (p. 150)."  "But alas, the grandiose dreams and high expectations of the major OWI figures were dashed by several forces, including a hesitant, almost indifferent president; a suspicious Congress and State Department with little faith in the plans of OWI; a variety of internal squabbles over attempts to define what American policy was and how best to present it; and, most significantly, the more pragmatic requirements of war."

• And so "the home front was short-lived; how Congress dismantled the domestic branch which had tried to the American people about the war effort" and the OWI shifted its interests and direction to the theaters of war, "intense efforts to support the military effort via psychological warfare against the enemy...The propaganda of war had finally come to represent the war being fought."
• 

The other elements of this small collection include:  

Calls Aachen Worthy Monument to Hitler's Destructive Genius. Otober 31, 1944.  2pp

Hitler, with Current Degrees, Ruthlessly Destroying Germany, by Walter Millis. October 24, 1944. 2pp.

Hitler Discusses Problem of Reducing German Industry, by Edgar A, Mowrer. October 14, 1944. 11x8, 1pp

Situation Now Hopeless for Germany; Only Way Out is Complete Surrender, by Walter Millis, September 5, 1944. 1pp

Hitler's Strategy Continues to Lead to Utter Destruction, by Walter Millis. Sept 30, 1944.  11x8, 2pp. 

Japanese Fleet Does Not Know Where or How U.S. Fleet Will Strike Next, by Wallace Herrick. October 21, 1944, 13x8", 1pp. 

Sooner Surrender Comes, the More Will be Saved, by Wallace Horrick.[sic] October 14, 1944. 13x8", 1pp. 

Battle on the Western Front is in Second Vital Stage, October 7, 1944. 11x8", 2pp. 

Prolonging of War Means Further Suffering for Millions in Europe, by Walter Millis, Novermber 11, 1944, 2pp. 

Guerilla [sic] Warfare Appears Only Answer to Nazi Political Leaders. October 10, 1944. 11x8, 2pp. 

Dumbarton Oaks Proposals an Adventure in Social Organization and Invention, by Walter Millis.  October 17, 1944.  11x8, 2pp

Senator Comments on Three Aspects of Proposed World Security Organization. September 23, 1944. 1pp.

Background on Tokyo. November 4, 1944. 3pp..

Economic Plans for Germany After the War, by Maz Lerner, October 13, 1944

General Arnold Sees "Beginning of End" for Enemy in Air. January 4, 1944. 13x8", 3pp.

Dewey's Reply to President's Foreign Policy Speech. October 28, 1944. 13x8" 4pp. 

Island Landings Face Different Circumstances, Experts Say. January 15, 1944. 13x8", 1pp. 

Nazis Face Bitter New Year, by Walter Millis. 11x8, January 4, 1944. 

Roosevelt Reports on Lend-Lease, January 9, 1944. 11x8", 1pp. 

U.S. Agricultural News, January 6, 1944, 13x8", 2pp.  

Latest Agricultural Trends in United States Outlined. October 31, 1944. 11x8".

Great Future Significance to Events of Recent Days. September 2, 1944. 13x8". 1pp. Weekly Information Backgrounder. October 14, 1944. 13x8". 2pp. 

Why United Nations Seek to Prevent Future Wars. November 4, 1944. 13x8", 3pp. 

Correspondent Goes Behind Scenes in Recall of General Joe Stilwell. November 4, 1944. 13x8", 3pp.  

President Roosevelt on U.S. Foreign Policy. October 24, 1944. 13x8, 5pp. 

Dewey Speech on U.S. Foreign Policy. October 21, 1944. 13x8", 4pp.

Sea Bees Build Reputation in Combat Construction. January 8, 1944. 13x8", 1pp.

U.S. Faces Difficult Agricultural Problems. November 11, 1944. 11x8, 2pp.

Aggressors Aroused Power That Will Destroy Them. January 11, 1944.  11x8", 1pp. 

Background on Japanese Mandated Islands. February 8, 1944. 13x8, 3pp. 

Roosevelt Faces Vote Test in Unique Wartime Election, by George Warnecke, January 15, 1944.. 13x8, 2pp. 

Outstanding Pronouncements by Roosevelt on International and Domestic Questions. November 8, 1944, 11x8, 2pp.

Men Face Primitive Conditions in Southwest Pacific War, by Raymond Clapper. .January 29, 1944. 13x8" 1pp.

Pacific War Nearer Japan, Keeping Axis Separated. January 25, 1944. 11x8". 2pp. 

Writer Sees Improved Cooperation in Campaign against Japan. January 22, 1944. 11x8. 1pp. 

Cartels Endanger Economic Freedom. February 19, 1944. 13x8", 1pp.

Roosevelt and Dewey Views on Post-War World Security. October 16, 1944. 11x8, 1pp.  

American Presidential Election Procedure, February 22, 1944. 13x8, 2pp.

People Lead on Postwar Setup. February 1, 1944. 13x8, 2pp. 

Background on Marcus Island, February 8, 1944, 11x8", 1pp. 

U.S. Agricultural Newsletter, February 6, 1944. 13x8, 2pp. 

Noted American Columnist Killed in Crash Covering Marshalls Invasion (Raymond Clapper). February 8, 1944. 13x8, 2pp. 

Wallace Sees Improvements for Postwar America, February 8, 1944, 13x8, 2pp.

Background on Burma. 13x8", February 1, 1944.

Background on Midway and Wake Islands. February 8, 1944. 13x8, 2pp. 

What American Papers Say.  September 16, 1944. 13x8", 1pp. 

What  American Papers Say. October 21, 1944., 13x8", 3pp. 

What  American Papers Say. January 1, 1944., 13x8", 1pp. 

What  American Papers Say. October 28, 1944., 13x8", 1pp. 

What  American Papers Say. January 29, 1944., 13x8", 1pp. 

What  American Papers Say. January 3, 1944., 13x8", 1pp. 

What American Papers SAy, November 11, 1944. 13x8, 2pp. 

Weekly Information Backgrounder. (undated, election-time, 1944) Vandenberg, Dewey, MacArthur, world security league, Quebec conference.  13x8". 4pp. 

Weekly Information Backgrounder, October 24, 1944. 13x8", 3pp.

Weekly Information Backgrounder, October 24, 1944. 13x8", 3pp.

Weekly Information Backgrounder, October 3, 1944. 13x8", 3pp.

 

 

 

 

 

What a Fascist Really, Really Is: Defining Things, June,1944

JF Ptak Science Books 

Poletti, Col. Charles.  [Defining Fascists] Offset printed, 3-page document, printed at the Headquarters of the (U.S. Army) Allied Control Commission, Rome, 26 June 1944.  12x8 inches.  Some original annotation.  Fair condition.  12.5x8.5", 3 sheets, printed on one side only, stapled.  The last leaf is becoming detached at an old fold (at the bottom quarter of the sheet).  $450

(Charles Poletti [1903-2002] had a very interesting and socially-involved life; during WWII he made radio broadcasts in Italian in Italy beginning in 1943; he was a major DNC activist and it was via all of those positions that he found himself to be appointed governor of New York for a brief period of time before moving off to wartime duties. Fascinating story for that man.)

In the history of words and the history of writing them, the history of writing down what words mean came relatively late in the word game.  The first dictionary for the English language is difficult to establish–it wasn’t Dr. Johnson’s 1746 effort, as fabulous as it was.  There were more than a hundred earlier efforts, the earliest of which may be Robert Cowdry’s A Table Alphabeticall... as the first English dictionary, which was written in 1604. (Its more easy to determine the first American dictionary, Dr. Webster’s, 1828 .) It may be that dictionaries and assemblies of rogue/thieves language appeared well before Johnson, by perhaps as much as 175 years, providing the good readers and listeners in England with a ready tool for understanding “non-standard” (slang) words of the English language (with A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew, by “B.E.”, being the best known of these early works, published in 1698.)

 It is interesting to me that in addition to Johnson et al another  writer–or rather set of writers–were responsible for the first Johnsonian-first dictionary in German, the  Deutsches Wörterbuch by the Brothers Grimm.  These are good examples of modernity, though there are earlier examples for other languages–Petrus de Alingio’s manuscript of 1286 and the Catholicon as the first printed alphabetical listing of Latin words appeared very shortly after Gutenberg’s Bible did on the same press.  But then these were both many centuries into the use of the language.

{More detail in the "continue reading section", below; also, the original is available for purchase from our blogbookstore.]
And this just to say how much I like the road to words–especially when they come from unexpected places. One fine example of this is the directive below, issued by the headquarters of th Allied Control Commission (“APO No 394") in Rome in the summer of 1944.  (This would actually be the American arm of the ACC, which was commission set up by the Allied Powers to deal with the administration of defeated countries at the end of the war.  Three weeks after D-Day the end of the war was in sight (Bastogne and Co. not withstanding), though far more so in Italy than just about anywhere else, and so the implementation of governing and occupying plans needed to be established.  One of the primary features here was to ensure that the old Fascists not be included in the new Italian governments (along the lines of denazification in Germany, which had a more laissez-faire approach to defining Nazis, especially wealthy and useful ones), and the primary issue in finding and excluding Fascists was to define what was meant by “fascist”¹.  These are those working guidelines, at least on 25 June 1944. 

Notes

1. The first use of “fascism” in English reported by the Oxford English Dictionaries occurs in 1921
1921    19th Cent. July 148   The Fascismo was born in the provinces, where the extremistic menace was stronger.      

Other interesting reports of the usage of the word continue in the OED:

1922    Q. Rev. Jan. 148   A section of the Press..now veered completely round to the cause of Fascism. The Fascist terror increased in intensity.
1923    Contemp. Rev. Jan. 44   We do not want Fascismo in this country.
1923    Contemp. Rev. Nov. 557   Fascism in Germany will never be more than one of several factors.
1925    Weekly Westm. Gaz. 10 Jan. 320/2   The outrages which have been associated with Fascism have gradually alienated much of the support which it won two years ago.
1934    tr. K. Heiden's National Socialism xvii. 354   The electoral victories all over Europe with which the Labour Parties have replied to German Fascism.
1936    Discovery Dec. 378/1,   I have strongly criticised modern education and the methods of handling youth generally as inculcating excessive respect for authority and thereby conducing to the growth of Fascism.
1939    A. Cobban Dictatorship v. 124   In March 1919..Fascism was still..a revolutionary and socialist movement, hostile to the monarchy, to finance, and to parliamentary government, demanding social reform and workers' control, but separated from the other branches of the socialist movement by its intense nationalism.
   
And the definition of the word “fascist” from the same year, 1921:
 “One of a body of Italian nationalists, which was organized in 1919 to oppose communism in Italy, and, as the partito nazionale fascista, under the leadership of Benito Mussolini (1883–1945), controlled that country from 1922 to 1943; also transf. applied to the members of similar organizations in other countries. Also, a person having Fascist sympathies or convictions; (loosely) a person of right-wing authoritarian views. Hence as adj., of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Fascism or Fascists...”

 

Poletti, Col. Charles.  [Defining Fascists] Offset printed, 3-page document, printed at the Headquarters of the (U.S. Army) Allied Control Commission, Rome, 26 June 1944.  12x8 inches.  Some original annotation.  Fair condition.  12.5x8.5", 3 sheets, printed on one side only, stapled.  The last leaf is becoming detached at an old fold (at the bottom quarter of the sheet).  $450

(Charles Poletti [1903-2002] had a very interesting and socially-involved life; during WWII he made radio broadcasts in Italian in Italy beginning in 1943; he was a major DNC activist and it was via all of those positions that he found himself to be appointed governor of New York for a brief period of time before moving off to wartime duties. Fascinating story for that man.)

In the history of words and the history of writing them, the history of writing down what words mean came relatively late in the word game.  The first dictionary for the English language is difficult to establish–it wasn’t Dr. Johnson’s 1746 effort, as fabulous as it was.  There were more than a hundred earlier efforts, the earliest of which may be Robert Cowdry’s A Table Alphabeticall... as the first English dictionary, which was written in 1604. (Its more easy to determine the first American dictionary, Dr. Webster’s, 1828 .) It may be that dictionaries and assemblies of rogue/thieves language appeared well before Johnson, by perhaps as much as 175 years, providing the good readers and listeners in England with a ready tool for understanding “non-standard” (slang) words of the English language (with A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew, by “B.E.”, being the best known of these early works, published in 1698.)

 It is interesting to me that in addition to Johnson et al another  writer–or rather set of writers–were responsible for the first Johnsonian-first dictionary in German, the  Deutsches Wörterbuch by the Brothers Grimm.  These are good examples of modernity, though there are earlier examples for other languages–Petrus de Alingio’s manuscript of 1286 and the Catholicon as the first printed alphabetical listing of Latin words appeared very shortly after Gutenberg’s Bible did on the same press.  But then these were both many centuries into the use of the language.

{More detail in the "continue reading section", below; also, the original is available for purchase from our blogbookstore.]
And this just to say how much I like the road to words–especially when they come from unexpected places. One fine example of this is the directive below, issued by the headquarters of th Allied Control Commission (“APO No 394") in Rome in the summer of 1944.  (This would actually be the American arm of the ACC, which was commission set up by the Allied Powers to deal with the administration of defeated countries at the end of the war.  Three weeks after D-Day the end of the war was in sight (Bastogne and Co. not withstanding), though far more so in Italy than just about anywhere else, and so the implementation of governing and occupying plans needed to be established.  One of the primary features here was to ensure that the old Fascists not be included in the new Italian governments (along the lines of denazification in Germany, which had a more laissez-faire approach to defining Nazis, especially wealthy and useful ones), and the primary issue in finding and excluding Fascists was to define what was meant by “fascist”¹.  These are those working guidelines, at least on 25 June 1944. 

Notes

1. The first use of “fascism” in English reported by the Oxford English Dictionaries occurs in 1921
1921    19th Cent. July 148   The Fascismo was born in the provinces, where the extremistic menace was stronger.      

Other interesting reports of the usage of the word continue in the OED:

1922    Q. Rev. Jan. 148   A section of the Press..now veered completely round to the cause of Fascism. The Fascist terror increased in intensity.
1923    Contemp. Rev. Jan. 44   We do not want Fascismo in this country.
1923    Contemp. Rev. Nov. 557   Fascism in Germany will never be more than one of several factors.
1925    Weekly Westm. Gaz. 10 Jan. 320/2   The outrages which have been associated with Fascism have gradually alienated much of the support which it won two years ago.
1934    tr. K. Heiden's National Socialism xvii. 354   The electoral victories all over Europe with which the Labour Parties have replied to German Fascism.
1936    Discovery Dec. 378/1,   I have strongly criticised modern education and the methods of handling youth generally as inculcating excessive respect for authority and thereby conducing to the growth of Fascism.
1939    A. Cobban Dictatorship v. 124   In March 1919..Fascism was still..a revolutionary and socialist movement, hostile to the monarchy, to finance, and to parliamentary government, demanding social reform and workers' control, but separated from the other branches of the socialist movement by its intense nationalism.
   
And the definition of the word “fascist” from the same year, 1921:
 “One of a body of Italian nationalists, which was organized in 1919 to oppose communism in Italy, and, as the partito nazionale fascista, under the leadership of Benito Mussolini (1883–1945), controlled that country from 1922 to 1943; also transf. applied to the members of similar organizations in other countries. Also, a person having Fascist sympathies or convictions; (loosely) a person of right-wing authoritarian views. Hence as adj., of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Fascism or Fascists...”

Rare Report by Major General George V. Strong on the Strength of the Axis, 1943

JF Ptak Science Books

Major General George Veazy Strong (USMA '04), in 1943 as the Assistant Chief of Staff of the Army Intelligence Unit (G-2)--a position of enormous importance--delivered his very sober and reasonable summation on the strength of the Axis forces before the U.S. Congress (on October 20 and 21, 1943). which was printed in this report.  (It is of historical and bibliographical interested to note that this document was in the library of the Office of Strategic Services (the O.S.S., the precursor to the C.I.A.) before it was sent to the Library of Congress and deaccessioned.)

The document is somewhat over-sized (at 12x9") and is 13 pages of text, followed by 17 leaves of diagrams, some of which are very strong images of superior design. Strong was very highly accomplished, of very wide experience, and was an excellent thinker.  His report was concise and thorough, and must have made a mark on his listeners in the House and Senate.  

The report seems to be rare--I cannot find mention of it popularly in the social media, and there seems also to be no trace of it in the WorldCat outside of an LP recording (at the Library of Congress), meaning that there seems to be no copies of the printed version in libraries worldwide.  

• Major General George V. Strong, The Strength of the Axis", delivered before the House of Representatives on 20 October 1943  and before the Senate on 21 October 1943.  12x9", 13 leaves text and 17 leaves of graphic displays of data.  Offset.  Bound by a single staple at upper left corner.   
• Provenance:  Library of the Office of Strategic Services (through 4/9/47?) and then the  Library of Congress, with the LC Surplus/Duplicate rubber stamp for deaccession.   This publication is not found in printed format in WorldCat.  

 

A War by Many Other Names: the Japanese Invasion of China, 1931-1945; How to Trivialize 20 Million Killings Without Really Trying

JF Ptak Science Books 

I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.
--Marcel Duchamp

I have a good number of English-language propaganda pieces published by such Hearts and Minds institutions as the Foreign Affairs Association of Japan describing, through the merriest and most defensive eyes, the Japanese viewpoint of exactly what it was that was going on in China between 1931 and 1945.  This leaflet, Why? Who? How? Questions and Answers on the Sino-Japanese Conflict (1937), is particularly worth noting because of how quickly and cleverish-cleanly the issue of the war and the fault of fighting was dispatched, and done with such astonishing condescending alacrity, and with such an enormous bodyguards of lies,as to be staggering.  I guess this is why the Duchamp quote came to me just now.  Old Marcel, the supremely gifted magician, certainly meant to be an enormous, itchy pain in the butt and a source of confusion, an artistic anarchist;  the thinking behind the quote served him well, and I think that it can be well-applied here.                             

• 11x", 4pp, map on rear page. Old fold.  Provenance:  Library of Congress, Carnegie Institution of Washington. Small "LC" perforation in front and rear page, bottom.  Good condition. Scarce.  $150

The first issue is in the subtitle:  the “Sino-Japanese Conflict” implies that the Chinese were at fault for having the Japanese invade Manchuria back in 1931; secondly,  the Chinese started a conflict and not a war. 

Actually, the naming of the war there is quite an issue, and an issue still—and an issue at it most base level:  the word “war” is not generally used in Japan.  It wasn’t used in Japan during the war, or at least until the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  Until 1941, the millions of Chinese who were being killed by the Japanese armed forces were the result of a series of ”incidents”.  Even though there was a war raging from the beginning in 1931 to the start of total Japanese-Chinese war on 15 July 1937, the stuff that was happening from ’37 to ’42  was still an “incident” except for a period of 1940-ish to Pearl, when the idea of the Holy War (“Seisan”, eight corners of the world under one roof, etc.) was introduced by the Japanese Diet in 1940.  After that there was the occasional use of the “Great East Asian Conflict”, with the word “war” not being the part of any Japanese vocabulary.

An interesting phrase that entered into the parlance though, if not “war”, was “Sanko Sakusen”, the “Three Alls”, as in KILL All, LOOT All, BURN All.  The Japanese wound up getting part of the Chinese All, eventually killing 20 million people or so in those 15 years.  But it wasn’t a war.

This four-page document asks twenty questions, and answers them usually, emphatically, with simplicity, starkness, and with total complicity of innocence on the side of Japan.  For example, in discussing the “incident” in Beiging in 1937 which led to the total war between the two countries, asking the reader “why did the attempts to settle the incident locally at its early stage fail?,  we are told “Because the Chinese never meant to do so”.  Which of course is not the case.

An incredible bit of thinking comes next, when the question “If Japan is on the defensive, how can the dispatch of large military and naval forces be accounted for?” Indeed!  Its hard to explain the invasion of another country as a purely defensive action. (We have seen this rather recently ourselves, the fictionalized account of terror-sponsorship in Iraq being about the only fuel necessary for a full-fledged defensive invasion and 2000-day long war.)  But the answer in 1937 was the Chinese defensive maneuver of massing troops for an impending invasion of China by Japan was then threatening Japanese interests in China, thus necessitating a defensive invasion of China which was mobilizing to defend itself from a Japanese offensive, which wouldn’t have come if the Chinese hadn’t adopted a defensive posture.  Basically, to paraphrase the immortal Mayor-for-Life of Washington, D.C, Marion S. Barry, “basically, the man dead”. (This was Barry’s response to reporters who were clamoring to find out what exactly had happened to a crazy man who climbed into a step van in a Buck Rogers suit and threatened to blow up the Washington Monument with a bucket of pee, an old rifle, and spray paint and then was shot about 200 times by cops of every shape and description. True story.)

(This is a picture of a baby survivor of a Japanese bombing "incident" at  South Station, Shanghai, 1937--sometimes it is better to see what something is than have someone define it for you..)

We further find out that the attacks on the schools and hospitals in China were carried out, somehow, by Chinese troops; that a Chinese fishing fleet that was attacked and pulverized by Japanese submarines really wasn’t, and that they just disappeared; that Japan was protecting the rights of third party powers by “removing” Chinese troops occupying foreign-owned properties; that the Japanese fight against the “Sovietization” of China would “protect” foreign democracies, and so on.  The questions hardly matter, as the answers are all sort of the same.  Japan would “reach a settlement” (the word “peace” is not used anywhere here) however, if China “realized the error if her ways”. 

Word do control mental images, and the further you get away from the situation described the more powerful the words become.  Somehow the Korean Conflict seems less so than a war because it wasn't "legally" so; it was a "police action".  And the Japan-China War isn't a "war" in name in most Japanese histories of the period.  I think you can dissolve things with loose undefined language to such a point that the thing itself no longer exists; the only stuff that survives are the words used to hide it. 

New Material for Asia, WWII

JF Ptak Science Books

By  Donald of China

[(DONALD, W(illiam) H(enry)] The subjoined letter written by Mr. W.H.Donald, Confidential Advisor to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, gives a detailed account of the present situation in China. It has been received by H.J. Timperley from Chungking...

No place of publication, and not dated (though internally it is dated 1938 and has references to a peaceful 1939 in the text).  In pencil the back of the first leaf is annotated "Transferred from the Librarian's Office, May 15, 1932";  Small stamp on front cover from the Library of Congress (Archibald MacLeish); deaccession stamp on rear cover from the L.C.

11x8" leaves, offset printed, staple bound at left side, 44pp.  No copies located in WorldCat.  Nice copy, somewhat dusty.  SOLD

Japanese Propaganda in the War with China

Presenting Japan's Side of the Case, published by the Japanese Association in China, Shanghai, 1931.  77pp. Printed wrappers.  Small stamp on front cover from the Library of Congress; deaccession stamp on rear cover from the L.C.  Very good copy.  SOLD

Two Items from the Japanese Chamber of Commerce in NYC

(1) Background of the Manchurian Trouble, 1929, 32pp.  (2) The Sino-Japanese Crisis, 1937, 58pp.  Both 7.5x5", original wrappers.   Small stamp on front cover from the Library of Congress; deaccession stamp on rear cover from the L.C.  Very good copy.  SOLD

 Severe Illustrations of Terror

Sack of Manila.  Published by the U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington D.C., 1945.  9x6", 29pp.  Original wrappers.  Fine copy.  Numerous copies located by WorldCat, though I cannot find any copies for sale, presently.SOLD

• This is a very unusual federal publication, given the material, and the illustrations--of the 30 photographs in this pamphlet, fully 27 of them depict graphic, brutal, and horrendous scenes of Japanese cruelty to citizens of Manila.  Gruesome, and powerful, offhand I can think of no other example like this coming from the government press before 1950 (excluding reports on the atomic bomb). 

 

On American vs. Japanese Propaganda in Occupied Peking, Sino-Japanese/WWII

JF Ptak Science Books   

I stumbled upon this very interesting bit of information in the hoard of materials I purchased of the Library of Congress years ago.  "Report on the Effect of OWI'S Radio Program on Public Moral in Peiping During the Period of Japanese Occupation", by written by George F. Winfield (November 12, 1945) might sound fairly high and dry, but it brings out a very interesting series of points, one of which was that the Chinese of Peking were far more informed on the progress of the war than their Japanese occupiers.

 

•  "Report on the Effect of OWI'S Radio Program on Public Moral in Peiping During the Period of Japanese Occupation", written by George F. Winfield (November 12, 1945) . 3 carbon typed sheets, 1945. Very good copy. SOLD

Surrender of Japanese Forces, Philippines, September 23, 1945

JF Ptak Science Books

"Headquarter / United States Army Forces Western Pacific / Public Relations Office / General Release - 47, APO 707, 23 September 1945"   1 sheet,printed front and back,  13x8". Old fold at bottom quarter.  Scarce object. ON HOLD

"No date has yet been set when it is expected all the Japanese in the hills will be in our hands."  So ends this three-paragraph report sating that 31,000 Japanese soldiers (including 17 generals) have been placed under guard in Luzon's prisoner of war camps. This was issued by the PR Office of the U.S. Army Headquarters, Western Pacific; the Japanese officially surrendered 15 August, and the surrender papers signed on 2 September, but it took quite some time for the news to filter out to all Japanese armed forces. 

Red Cross Report on the POWs in Japanese Internment Camps, 1944

JF Ptak Science Books

Measures Taken to Aid Prisoner of War and Civilian Internees Held by Japan.  Published by the American Red Cross, Washington, D.C. [Not dated in the report but stamped  "March 25, 1944" when it was accepted by the serials division at the Library of Congress.]  Offset, printed on 11x8.5" sheets; 13 leaves (3 leaves of index, 7 paginated leaves plus 3 leaves of appendicies).  The central section comprises approximately 3500 words. Staple bound, though the cover sheet is detached.  Not located in WorldCat. $350 [On hold]

Ethnic Cleansing, the Philippines and Singapore and General Yamashita, 1942-1945

JF Ptak Science Books 

Before the Military Commission Convened by the Commanding General, United States Army Forces, Western Pacific, 1 October 1945 / Charge / United States of America vs Tomoyuki Yamashita. Offset printed, stapled bound.  13x8".In two sections, composed of 27 leaves, in two discernible parts.

Section One:

•  Charges and affadavit, 2pp
• Press Release concerning General Yamashita, 2pp
• Press release of Defense Counsel Staff, 2pp
• Trial of General Yamashita, list of Prosecutor and assistants, 4pp
• Biographical Notes on General Officers, 2pp

Section Two:

• Bill of Particulars (which has the true depth of the charges against Yamashita), 8pp
• Supplemental Bill of Particulars, 7pp

Scarce.[on hold]

This is a rare offset printing of the statement of charges and “outline of particulars” against the Japanese Imperial Army General Tomoyuki Yamashita (1885-1946), a man accused of war crimes against humanity.  After he was captured 2 September 1945, General Yamashita was arraigned principally for failing to control his troops, segments of which had acted brutally in their treatment of residents of captured Singapore and against British Empire soldiers. He was charged with “unlawfully disregarding and failing to discharge his duty as a commander to control the acts of members of his command by permitting them to commit war crimes."  This was in direct violation the doctrine of “command responsibility” which was established by the Hague Conventions IV (1907) and X (1907), and—after in re Yamashita—would also become known as the “Yamashita standard”, in which courts clearly accepted that “a commander’s actual knowledge of unlawful actions is sufficient to impose individual criminal responsibility”. Yamashita would be found guilty by the U.S. Military Tribunal and was sentenced to death, for "vengeful actions are widespread offences and there is no effective attempt by a commander to discover and control the criminal acts, such a commander may be held responsible, even criminally liable."  It was a death sentence for a crime of omission. (As early as the 6^thcentury BCE, Sun Tzu, in his Art of War, stipulated that it was a commander's duty to ensure that his subordinates conducted themselves in a civilized manner during an armed conflict.)

Getting back to the war:  after Yamashita captured Singapore in February 1942, accepting the surrender of General Arthur Percival and 100,000+ British Army soldiers, a steel wind policy was instituted, with thousands of people—soldiers and civilians—finding their end at the point of Japanese soldiers’ bayonets. 

Chief among the atrocities was the Sook Ching movement, a concerted, pervasive and prolonged ethnic cleansing of Singapore of anti-Japanese “undesirable” elements.  Among these groups were included (and this list is taken from a rather good contribution to the dubious Wikipedia):    Persons who had been active in the China Relief Fund.

•   Rich men who had given most generously to the Relief Fund.
•   Adherents of Tan Kah Kee, leader of the Nanyang National Salvation Movement.
•   Hainanese, who were believed to be communists.
• China-born Chinese who came to Malaya after the 1937 Sino-Japanese War
• Men with tattoo marks, who were believed to be members of secret societies, specifically Triads
• Persons who fought for the British as volunteers against the Japanese.
• Government servants and men who were likely to have pro-British sympathies, such as Justices of the Peace, and members of the Legislative Council.
• Persons who possessed arms and tried to disturb public safety.

In short, it didn’t take all that much to be considered for elimination, and a long and frozen fear and ruthless hearts-and-minds- campaign was instituted which lasted until the Philippines were finally liberated.  And it was for the Japanese actions in the Philippines, and then principally in Manila, that General Yamashita was tried, despite the effects of his long and terrible reach across South East Asia

Most of the British and Australian prisoners incarcerated in Singapore’s Changi Prison would never make it out.  Other segments of the POWs would be transported on hell ships for forced slave labor throughout the Japanese Empire.  The Siam-Burma death railroad (surfaced in the Pierre Boullee novel The Bridge on the River Kwai) received other portions of these POWs; on that 258-mile railroad upwards of 180,000 Asian slave laborers and 60,000 Allied POWs were put to work in horrific and desperate conditions—90,000 of the Asian and 16,000 of the Allied would be killed during the construction (though many estimates are markedly higher than this).  The Sandakan airstrip in North Borneo was another death receptacle of these POWs:  3,600 Indonesian slave laborers and 2,300 Allied POWs were set to work here—only 6 Allied POWs (Australian escapees) survived. 

In re Yamashita focused on the Philippines and the battleground that it was turned into by Yamashita, costing the civilian population more than 100,000 lives. Tomoyuki Yamashita was hanged on 23 February 1946 at Los Banos Prison Camp, 30 miles south of the city in which he caused so much misery.